Vol.14: What is Landing Page and Its Optimization?

In the previous article "Vol.13: How is Landing Page Optimization Related to Persuasion Scenario?", persuasion scenario to navigate online web users/visitors to finally “buy” is explained, followed by positioning of landing page in the persuasion scenario, i.e. how landing page is related to persuasion scenario. This article will define what landing page is and its optimization.

1. What is landing page?

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, defines landing page in web marketing, sometimes known as a lead capture page, as the page that appears when a potential buyer/customer clicks on an advertisement or a search engine result click. The page will usually display web content that is a logical extension of the advertisement or link, and that is optimized to feature specific words or phrases for indexing by search engines.

The web content displayed in the landing pages varies according the marketing programme. Some examples include description of special offers mentioned in the website and promotion of new product offering, calls to action referenced in another content page (e.g. blog, e-book), an organization’s story to a particular target market, or simply more detailed information from the original link.

2. Are there different types of landing pages?

Yes, mainly there are two types of landing page, reference and transactional.

1) Reference landing page

A reference landing page presents information that is relevant to the visitor. The information can be presented by text, images, dynamic compilation of relevant links or other elements. Effectiveness of reference landing page can be measured by the revenue value of the advertising that is displayed on them.

A special type of reference landing page is “webvert”, the marketing goal focus on lead generation and interaction with the web visitor. A webvert is not transactional in nature, but is a reference based, ethical landing page, consisting of an advert, designed on the AID(M)A(S) principle mentioned in the previous article "Vol.13: How is Landing Page Optimization Related to Persuasion Scenario?". The webvert has a clear call to action, usually a reply form.

2) Transactional landing page

A transactional landing page seeks to persuade a visitor to complete a transaction such as filling out a form or interacting with advertisements or other objects on the landing page, with the goal being the immediate or eventual sales of product or service. If information is to be captured, the page will usually withhold information until some minimal amount of web visitor is provided, typical example being an e-mail address and in some cases a name and telephone number as well, which are sufficient to “capture the lead” and add the prospect to a mailing list/data base of CRM (Customer Relationships Management).

A visitor taking the expected/desired action = buy on a transactional landing page is referred to as a conversion. Although there are other metrics such as CTR (Click Through Rate), the efficiency or quality of the landing page can and is usually measured by its conversion rate, the percentage of visitors who complete the desired action = buying. The economics of many web marketing programmes are determined by the conversion rate, and from monitoring the conversion rate, web/Internet marketers constantly test alternatives and improvements to their landing pages.

In reality, there is another type of landing page, which is common used in direct marketing, called Squeeze Page. These web pages are extremely targeted and focus on capturing information about a web visitor. These pages usually have a very high conversion rate and collect data for an upcoming targeted e-mail or direct contact campaigns.

3. What is landing page optimization?

Landing page optimization is to design the landing page as a logical extension of the advertisement or link for prospects to deliver the promise made and meet expectations, so that the prospects would take series of micro actions to go through persuasion scenario.

Landing page optimization needs to be integrated with SEM (search engine marketing) and online advertising and all other web marketing initiatives to constitute a comprehensive (web) marketing programme.. When talking about SEM and SEO (Search Engine Optimization), optimizing key words and tags from understanding of algorithm for high search result ranking solely is focused in many cases. However, the ultimate value in SEM is its ability to help you understand the customer’s intent and ensure you present relevant information. Moreover, the value of relevant high rankings is completely undone if the promise of the result is followed in the landing page, as Eisenberg & Eisenberg (2006, p80) states. This concept applies also to driving prospects to the landing page by online advertising and other methods. For this reason, SEM, online advertising, landing page optimization and all other topics should not be fragmented but integrated.

4. What happens if landing page optimization is not successful?

It is sad to say that in many cases, web content of the landing page is NOT a logical extension of the advertisement or link for prospects; therefore, it does not meet the expectation of the prospect, and fails to maintain interest and/or conviction of the prospect. It might be that the prospect finds branding of the advertising/link and the landing page inconsistent. Or the prospect cannot find the information he/she expected because it is simply not there or difficult to find even if it is available on the page. Or even if the information is available and the prospect finds it, it is not presented appropriate, such as not in his/her buyer persona style (language, style, etc.).

Whatever the reason may be, if the prospect is dissatisfied with the first landing page, (usually a reference landing page), the prospect would click away to say good bye, after all the effort and investment made to driving him/her to the entrance of the website (= landing page),. Prospects may click away saying good bye in later micro actions as well, but it is often said that majority of the click-away occurs at the first reference landing page and most remaining click-away at the transaction page when calling to action.

5. What is the significance and essence of landing page optimization?

It is quite clear from the above that landing page optimization is a crucial in web marketing. The essence of landing optimization is what Eisenberg & Eisenberg say about presenting relevant information and following through on the promise of the result. If this is successfully performed, web content of the landing page would meet (or even exceed) the expectation of the prospect and the prospect will take the next action of the persuasion scenario with satisfaction.

Landing page (to be specific, reference landing page) is the entries of prospects to the conversion funnel as in the previous article "Vol.13: How is Landing Pange Optimizationo Related to Persuasion Scenario?", so it needs to be designed and optimized to assure that prospects to take the next steps. This means to maintain the prospect’s attention and interest, and to take the first micro action. In many cases it is clicking to the next page in line with the persuasion scenario. This requires interest and conviction of the prospects to be generated and developed, so that the prospects take series of micro actions, going through persuasion scenario to complete by answering to “call to action” at the end.

As Scott (2009, p253) says, marketing with web landing pages is one of the most easiest and cost-effective ways to make a message read by a target market (prospect). It is also an excellent tool to move buyers through the sales cycle. This is why landing page optimization, carefully designed together with SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and other web marketing initiatives, is an extremely important topic in total web marketing, which, if successfully performed, can contribute to maximization of web marketing ROI.


In the next article, possible methodologies of landing page optimization will be introduced.


References:-

Omniture, An Adobe Company (2009), White Paper: 11 Tips for Master Search Marketers

Scott, David Meerman (2007), The New Rules of Marketing & PR. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.